DES MOINES, Iowa – As she has done so often during her Drake women's basketball career, Katie Dinnebier delivered when the Bulldogs needed her the most. Dinnebier scored Drake's final seven points, including a critical three-point play with 12.9 seconds left, to lift the Bulldogs to a 69-63 victory over longtime rival Northern Iowa at the Knapp Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Bulldogs' senior leader finished with 17 points in the 101st installment of the series with UNI as the women's team completed a Drake sweep of the Panthers during the week. The men's team beat UNI in the Knapp Center on Wednesday night.
 
Drake (13-8, 7-3) beat the Panthers (10-11, 5-5) for the fourth straight time and ninth in the last 11 meetings, but it certainly wasn't easy. The Bulldogs had to survive 23 turnovers and a brilliant performance by UNI's Maya McDermott to stay within striking distance of the MVC lead at the halfway point in the conference season.
 
McDermott scored 14 of UNI's 20 points in the fourth quarter and wound up with 27, including a career-high seven 3-pointers in just 11 attempts. No other UNI player scored in double figures, and after a brief 6-3 lead in the game's first minute, the Panthers never led again. The Bulldogs did a tremendous job holding Kayba Laube, the league's top 3-point shooter, in check. Laube finished the day with just five points and one triple.
 
Anna Miller led Drake with a 20-point, 13-rebound double-double – her seventh this season and 31st of her career. She moved past Tricia Wakely for ninth place on Drake's career rebounding list, hiking her total to 914.
 
Abbie Aalsma had a solid game with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, and two steals that she turned into layups. Courtney Becker added nine points and pulled down 11 rebounds, helping Drake to a 45-32 edge on the boards.
 
The game featured the Valley's top two scorers – Dinnebier (20.4) and McDermott (19.7) – but neither figured prominently in the early going, when the two teams looked as if they were competing in a 3-point shooting contest.
 
McDermott buried a three to get things started, Aalsma answered with a trey for Drake, Shateah Wetering connected from deep for the Panthers for that 6-3 lead and Aalsma countered again for a tie, all in the game's first 56 seconds.
 
Aalsma's second three started an 11-0 run that she finished with a steal and layup for a 14-6 lead. Shannon Fornsell's trey and Miller's two free throws stretched the lead to 19-10 and the Bulldogs led 21-14 at the quarter break. McDermott had just her early three in the quarter and Dinnebier didn't score at all, though she quickly found her touch as the second stanza got under way.
 
She buried a three from the right corner and hit a reverse layup for a 26-17 lead. When Miller knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key, the Bulldogs led 31-19 with 7:03 left in the quarter.
 
Dinnebier picked up her second foul on a charging call at the 6:36 mark and sat out the rest of the half. The Bulldogs maintained a lead of at least two possessions while their star was on the bench and Miller's bucket inside gave Drake a 39-33 lead at the break.
 
The Bulldogs raced out of halftime with a 7-0 burst to build their biggest lead of the game, 46-33, when Dinnebier found Aalsma for an open trey. Drake then went the next 6:21 without scoring but still managed to keep the Panthers at bay. Dinnebier's 3-pointer ended the drought with 38 seconds left in the quarter and Drake led 49-43 heading into the final period.
 
That's when McDermott went to work. She buried two straight 3s to tie the score at 49 and force a Drake timeout. But the Bulldogs found an answer.
 
Dinnebier flipped a pass to Miller for a three from the right wing, Aalsma anticipated a UNI pass, picked it off and took it in for a layup and Miller converted a three-point play on a tough leaning shot, making it 57-51 with 6:06 remaining.
 
Back came the Panthers again, cutting the lead to 60-58 on McDermott's high arching shot with 1:48 to go, drawing a roar from the UNI fans in the crowd of 4,355.  Dinnebier twice sank two free throws to restore the lead to four points and then, with the Bulldogs clinging to a 64-63 lead after McDermott's final 3-pointer, Dinnebier caught an inbounds on the run heading to the basket, made a layup as she was fouled and sank the freebie for a 67-63 cushion and that proved to be enough.
 
Becker finished it off with a pair of free throws after rebounding a final UNI miss and the Bulldogs, the defending MVC regular-season and tournament champions, remained two games out of first place with 10 conference games to play.
 
"We're really fired up," said Allison Pohlman, Drake's Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach. "This place is filled with so much energy and that really showed up in the first quarter. This team is committed to getting better and we'll keep doing just that. I loved our fight and our grit today. The [National Girls and Women in Sports Day] clinic before the game is always such a fun display of sport, and the game just capped it off."
 
Next up is a home game with Illinois State at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7. Bradley visits the Knapp Center for a 2 p.m. game two days later.
 
 
NOTES

• Drake improved to 13-8 overall, including a 7-3 record in the Missouri Valley Conference.
• Drake made just 22 field goals on Saturday, marking their second lowest total in conference play this season.
• The Bulldogs were nails from the free throw line, though, with an .889 percentage after going 16-of-18.
• Drake tied its season high with 36 defensive rebounds and grabbed 45 total boards.
• The Bulldogs were only whistled for nine fouls, their fewest in a single game this year.
• Anna Miller led Drake with 20 points and 13 rebounds. The double-double was her 31st career such outing and seventh of the season.
• Katie Dinnebier added 17 points, most of which came in the second half, with a team best five assists.
• Abbie Aalsma, who hit the Bulldogs' first two shots of the game from deep, finished the afternoon with 13 points.
• Courtney Becker came up just shy of double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.
• Drake now leads 74-27 in its all-time series with UNI. Sunday's result marks the fourth straight victory over the Panthers.
• Drake will remain in DSM with another home weekend on deck. The Bulldogs are set to host Illinois State (Feb. 7) and Bradley (Feb. 9) as part of Des Moines' Hometown Team Weekend.